Four straight birdies move Levet to second

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - For many golfers Thursday, the weather here at the 37th-annual MCI Heritage may have seemed like Christmas.

Not for Thomas Levet. A few fortunate rolls for birdies on the Harbour Town Golf Links, now that's Christmas.

On a 50-degree blustery day, the Frenchman got hot on his final nine holes and finished with a 7-under 64, two shots behind the leader Peter Lonard.

"There was a little bit of Christmas on the greens," Levet said. "I made a lot of putts from 10-20 feet."

A consistent putter and a merry little chip in from 25 feet for a birdie on No. 7 left Levet in a ho, ho, ho mood. He even birdied No. 8, the second-hardest hole of the day, with a 4-iron shot to within 10 feet.

Levet said his stroke started finding the range at the Masters last week. After missing five straight cuts on the Tour this season, he placed 13th in Augusta and pocketed $135,333.

Suddenly, he's eyeing the winner's purse of $936,000 here.

"It's so difficult over (at the Masters) that any kind of course or greens will look slow and easy compared to what we had last week," Levet said.

Thursday, Levet teed off at 1:21 p.m. with the penultimate threesome of the day. He played the back nine first (beginning at No. 10) and bogeyed his third hole.

Then the light came on. He shot 3-under par over the next five holes to post a 33. Even a potential lost shot was saved on a blast from the bunker on No. 17.

As well as Levet played from Nos. 13 to 18, he was even better over the next nine.

Was it the weather?

The top three players on the leaderboard are international.

"Maybe Americans should move to Europe and they would be more used to this weather," Levet said. "They live too much in Florida and California, these guys, that's why. For us, it's a great day."